Caesar's Antlers

Nice read about the power of friendship and giving. Grades 3-5. Boys and Girls will enjoy.

Hansen's book "The Chess Garden" concerned, about many other things, the necessity of stories. Now that he's writing for children, he doesn't have to explain: he simply creates a moving, beautiful story about love, loss, courage and finding one's way home. As before, his research is so impeccable yet so carefully used that you feel that he's simply transcribing very real events -- even when relating the inner thoughts of a sparrow. There are two very particular acheivements inthis book. The first is the character of Caesar, the most indomitable, admirable animal hero I've come across -- imagine Horton the elephant crossed with Bigwig, from Watership Down. His brave, faithful nature is exactly what you'd expect a reindeer's to be. And the second achievement is its careful grappling with the things that children really think about: family, love, loss, and even death. Its spiritual lessons are equal in weight (thought different in intent) to those of Wind In the Willows or The Lion, the Witch, in the War